Allhallows

Tara on Tour

The Third Tara has been placed. In a bleak, obscure part of the country where nothing much happens and the land is flat and mostly given over to grazing and a residential caravan park. Allhallows. On the northern shores of Kent; the official point at which the River Thames ceases and becomes the English Channel. The Thames Estuary is bigger than I expected and with the tide out, the mudflats seem to extend for several hundred metres before water can be seen. On one side is Southend-on-Sea in Essex, the Isle of Sheppey just beyond Allhallows and it's a mystery why this tiny, isolated village was chosen to mark the offical mouth of the Thames. Did someone take samples of the water in various places and determine the degree of seawater compared to river water? Or was it less scientific and more random? With a name like Allhallows, it could even be argued to have had religious significance - but that's a bit unlikely. A more Godforsaken place is not hard to imagine.

Yet, there was a strange peace there. Walking over the marshland (very dry in this drought) and up to the seawall, the wind blew and the cows quietly grazed; over the seawall and sitting at the edge of the tide, monotones of grey stretched ahead in all directions as pebbled beach, mudflats, river, sea and cloud all merged, confounding the senses and calming the mind. I sat for quite some time, thinking of the journey with this Tara and the people, places and events that are under her protection. Placing her in a rocky crevice, overlooking the river and the sea, I doubt she'll ever be found. May her blessing spread throughout this corner of England and beyond, protecting all who live in areas where water is a threat to lives and livelihood.

Returning to London, I stopped in Rochester for lunch and to visit the cathedral, which is the second oldest in the country. It's a beautiful, inspiring building with Britain's finest example of an original medieval wallpainting. Painted in the 13th Century, the Wheel of Fortune shows the ascending time of man's life: I was struck by the similarity between this English depiction of life and the Buddhist Wheel of Fortune.

I was also struck by the strong presence of the Holy Mother - both in the Lady Chapel and in the gardens, where there is a modern sculpture of Mary and Jesus, commissioned to commemorate the 850th anniversary of the cathedral. Rochester Cathedral is the mother church for the whole diocese of Kent, and it made me feel very much as if - once again - Tara and Mary are very similar in their qualities and in how they are perceived. They work to help people in the same way. The Divine Mother has many faces. She is there, in so many different ways - we just have to know where and how to look.